


Silence is Golden, But Music is Platinum — Excessive Use of Silence in Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution

by ArgentDandelion



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Analysis, Gen, Meta, Music, Nonfiction, Reviews, Silence, Sound Effects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24651382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentDandelion/pseuds/ArgentDandelion
Summary: A review of Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution, from the perspective of its disappointing use of music and sound design.
Kudos: 1





	Silence is Golden, But Music is Platinum — Excessive Use of Silence in Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution

_(The remake has some surprisingly quiet fire.)_

**Introduction & Summary**

_Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution_ is a weaker film than the original (dubbed) film. This is for several reasons, but one flaw proves especially easy: its music, or _lack thereof_.

Music provides vital cues for emotional reactions to a film: a film whose music is well-matched to its scenes can amplify the emotions of the scene. Indeed, music is so important that a film with a poor soundtrack can get up forgettable, while an otherwise mediocre film can end up beloved for its soundtrack. However, a film need not have wall-to-wall music to be good. In fact, silence can be an important part of a film’s emotional breadth, giving a feeling of emptiness, unease, or mundane-ness, among other things.

However, _Mewtwo Stikes Back: Evolution_ (“Evolution” for short) does not use its silence appropriately. Its silence occurs more frequently, for too long, and in the wrong scenes. To be more specific, while one of the biggest periods of silence in the original film (judging by the Hoopla copy) is 57 seconds, _Evolution_ surpasses that _only a few minutes in_. Moreover, the cues of the long spans of silence often conflict with what’s on-screen, leading to an inappropriate feeling of emptiness, mundane-ness, sleep-inducing dullness or even frustration at the creators’ sloppiness in the music track.

**Specific Examples**

There are many misuses of silence of silence in _Evolution_ , but for the sake of concision, only three of the major misuses will be covered. As an example of the appropriate use of silence, original occasionally used silence to draw attention to what characters were saying. When Giovanni says the line, “You were created by humans to obey humans. That is your purpose.”, it sounds abrupt and shocking when delivered in silence. But when many lines of dialogue are said with no music playing, the emotional cues become muddled, and it usually gives an unsuitable feeling of faint unease or boredom.

In _Mewtwo Strikes Back_ , the initial silence in the scene of Mewtwo’s creation illustrates the novelty of the world to Mewtwo, as well as the clandestine, uneasy status of the lab. The dialogue, lighting, character design and ambiance (non-music sound choices) all match to make a cohesive whole. These things were all drastically changed for the remake, though, causing a clash in mood cues. Furthermore, this scene was expanded in the remake, stretching out the music-less span and making it seem less like deliberate uneasiness and more like sloppiness.

During the scene of Mewtwo’s final meeting with Giovanni, music plays almost continuously in the dub. The music track morphs from a feeling of sadness and purposelessness, to tension and heart-pumping menace, to sadness again, to menace. Yet, for the equivalent scene in Evolution, there’s no music until the last second, and only a few sounds for ambiance. It’s thus much less emotionally potent in the remake.

The meet and greet scene on New Island is one of the most prolonged periods of silence in the original dub. In such a music-packed film, this gives a subtle sense of unease, making it seem faintly dreamlike. (Or like a dull nightmare, in other words) The echoing dialogue, too, draws attention to the emptiness of the palace: of a harbor station’s worth of Trainers invited to New Island, only six showed up. Strangely, the lack of echoes and the simple oboe/clarinet music playing in the scene during _Evolution_ overrides any sense of emptiness or unease for a bafflingly calm feeling.

**Analysis**

One might wonder if the remake’s extended and frequent periods of silence was an oversight: just a bit of sloppiness. The silence in itself is not a sign the remake’s production crew are bad at making music, for the remake does _have_ a few strong tracks. Indeed, some tracks are remarkable ones which don’t hew strictly to traditional orchestral arrangements, and the film even has a leitmotif for Mewtwo, like the original. Given the financial resources at hand to make this film, the fact the film is technically impressive in other areas (say, the graphics and choreography), and the _sheer level of silence_ does make it seem unlikely the silence was an oversight.

Most likely, it’s _too_ faithful to the original film (1998/1999), and the original film’s use of silence was incompatible with American tastes. One should note anime used to have music tracks replaced or added in for the English dub, and the music-stuffed dubs of the first three Pokémon films (1999-2001) were no exception. Three films might illustrate the trends of 1997-2003: _Princess Mononoke_ , _Spirited Away_ , and _Pokémon 4ever_. The music choices of _Princess Mononoke_ (1997 Japanese release/1999 English release) and _Spirited Away_ (2001/2002) were barely modified for the English dub, if at all, and neither was Pokémon _4ever_ (2001/2002).

The English dub of _Spirited Away_ , notably, removed a lot of the original’s silence by inserting background chatter, extra dialogue, and amplifying or inserting sound effects, and in fact removed the most silence of any of the film’s dubs. The differences in soundtrack and sound design between Pokémon 4ever and previous English Pokémon films gave Pokémon 4ever an emptier, more pastoral, more dreamlike feel, partly from its greater use of silence. Thus, the sound use is closer to _Princess Mononoke_ and _Evolution_ than to the previous three dubbed films.

**Conclusion**

Just as inappropriate music, music volume, and sound design can hinder a film, so, too, can a _a lack_ of music or sound design. When it comes to sound design…better press B for this _Evolution_.

**Author's Note:**

> The author loves comments. Feel free to tell the author what you think, either here on on the author's [Tumblr](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/).


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